Citing continued surging COVID-19 numbers, including 18 new deaths reported, San Diego County supervisors today announced the formation of a Safe Reopening Compliance Team to help businesses comply with public health orders and increase enforcement to slow down the spread of the coronavirus.
The newly formed Safe Reopening Compliance Team was announced at today's San Diego County media briefing. The mission of the team will be to help educated businesses and address public complaints to ensure compliance and enforcement. The county is working with incorporated cities within San Diego County to help slow the spread through increased outreach and enforcement of egregious violators of the public health order. The team's exact powers were not immediately made clear.
"This is a carrot approach, not a stick," explained Supervisor Greg Cox. "But we still have the stick and other tools to ensure compliance."
Supervisor Nathan Fletcher said the team would enable the county to step up enforcement on "egregious violations," although the details on that enforcement was also unclear. Officials were also reaching out to the various cities and communities in the county to collaborate on solutions.
"This is out of an effort to keep our businesses open, not to close them," Fletcher said.
County officials also stated that if San Diego does not reduce COVID-19 positives and outbreaks, it may be necessary to soon roll back stay-at-home orders. County health officials reported 587 more COVID-19 cases and 18 additional coronavirus fatalities today, raising the region's totals to 25,107 cases and 505 deaths.
This is a developing story. We will update this post as we learn more.
